How Aruvi Works
Aruvi is a payment system where amounts are hidden but everything else works like normal crypto. Here's the big picture.
The Problem We Solve
On regular blockchains, everything is public. Send someone 500 USDC and:
- Everyone sees you sent exactly 500
- Everyone sees your wallet balance
- Anyone can track all your transactions
- Your financial life is an open book
This is fine for some things, but terrible for most real-world payments. You wouldn't want your salary, medical bills, or subscription costs visible to the world.
Our Solution
Aruvi encrypts the amounts. That's it. Simple idea, complex implementation.
When you send 500 USDC through Aruvi:
- ✅ The blockchain records that a transaction happened
- ✅ The sender and receiver addresses are visible
- ❌ The amount is encrypted — nobody can see the 500
- ❌ Your balance is encrypted too
The Flow
Here's what happens when you use Aruvi:
Regular USDC → [Wrap] → Confidential USDC → [Use Privately] → [Unwrap] → Regular USDC
1. Wrap Your Tokens
You start with regular USDC (or other tokens). The wrap operation:
- Takes your plaintext tokens
- Deposits them in our smart contract
- Issues you encrypted tokens of equal value
Think of it like exchanging cash for casino chips, except the chips are encrypted.
2. Use Privately
Now you can:
- Send money to anyone
- Receive money from anyone
- Check your balance (only you can see it)
- Request payments
- Set up subscriptions
All amounts stay encrypted the entire time.
3. Unwrap When Needed
When you want regular tokens back:
- The unwrap operation decrypts and verifies your balance
- Your confidential tokens are burned
- You receive regular USDC
The Secret Sauce: FHE
What makes this possible is Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE).
Normal encryption: encrypt → can't do anything with it → decrypt
FHE: encrypt → do math on encrypted values → decrypt result
This means the blockchain can process your payment without ever seeing the actual numbers. It verifies you have enough funds, calculates the new balances, and updates everything — all while encrypted.
What's Still Visible
We're honest about what Aruvi hides and what it doesn't:
| Visible | Hidden |
|---|---|
| Your wallet address | Transaction amounts |
| That a transaction occurred | Your balance |
| Transaction timestamps | Payment totals |
| Gas fees | Subscription amounts |
If you need address privacy too, you'd combine Aruvi with something like Tornado Cash or a fresh wallet. Different tools for different threats.
Trust Model
Aruvi runs on smart contracts. There's no company holding your money, no servers processing your transactions.
Once deployed, the contracts work autonomously. Even we can't:
- See your balances
- Block your transactions
- Freeze your funds
- Access your encryption keys
Your keys, your money. That's the whole point.